SCMS 2019 — Beyond Netflix: New Frontiers in Streaming Video

As Netflix enters its second decade as a streaming video platform, the company is more prominent than ever in Hollywood, as an industrial force and topic of conversation. Beyond Netflix, however, the streaming video marketplace remains volatile. As first generation Netflix competitors like Amazon Studios, YouTube, and Hulu continue to score wildly varying degrees of success with their respective original programming, enormous social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat have begun ramping up original content production campaigns of their own. Apple has promised to invest more than $4 billion in original programming by 2022. Mega-mergers spearheaded by Disney and AT&T aim to position popular brands against Netflix. Independent platforms like OTV and amateur streamers on Twitch offer alternatives to the big budgets found elsewhere. And those are just some of the companies with a US focus.

While Netflix of course remains a viable subject of interest, this panel seeks to highlight those streaming platforms and practices operating within, or completely outside of, its massive shadow. Focusing our attention beyond Netflix will better illustrate the maturation of streaming video production, distribution, and consumption. Possible approaches/topics might include, but are not limited to:

Case studies of individual companies or programs from international contexts

Unique distribution strategies or business models—the surprise drop, independent productions, Patreons, and the like

Please email paper proposals, including a title, abstract (200-300 words), 3-5 bibliographic sources, and a short bio to Cory Barker (barkerc@indiana.edu) by Friday, August 10. Potential panelists will be informed of decisions by Tuesday, August 14.